Julie Upmeyer is an artist and initiator based in Istanbul, Turkey. Born in Detroit, USA, she was raised creatively re-using the recycled industrial materials of her mother’s non-profit organization, Arts & Scraps. She graduated from Grand Valley State University with a BFA in ceramics and sculpture. After a three-year nomadic life - working in India, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Greece, she moved to Istanbul in 2006. There she continued her art practice, creating installations, sculptures, performances and object-based work, recently opening her first solo show. She has attended residencies in Japan, Turkey, Latvia, Armenia and Slovenia, and exhibitions throughout Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

For five years, she was the co-director and initiator of Caravansarai, an absolutely independent production space, collective, meeting point, and artist residency in Istanbul. Now without a permanent physical location, the project continues as the Caravansarai Collective, creating artwork, performances, and residency experiences in Istanbul and throughout the world.

I had been working on this particular project for several years now. It had reached the point of splitting off into a few possible directions. Having to think in terms of another artists’ paradigm was quite enlightening, as we were both thinking about layers, but in quite different medium.